Curtain support for automobile doors



' J. LEDWINKA CURTAIN SUPPORT FOR AUTOMOBILE DOORS Dern 11,1928. 1,694,824

` Filed Jan. 29, 1925 FIG. l

I N VEN TOR.

JOSEPH L EpwmKA 4 ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 11,v 1928.

omriml STATES PATENTv oFFlcE.

JOSEPH LEDWINKA, CF iEI-IIIIADELII-IIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR 'IO EDV/'ARDV Gr.

BUDD MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A COR- PORATION 0F PENNSYLVANIA.

CURTAIN SUPPORT FOR,AUTOMOBILE DOOR/S.

Applicationv filed Januaryl 23, 1925. v Serial No. 5,421.

This invention relates to curtain supports for automobile doors, and more particularly to supports for attachingstorm curtains to the doors so that they may be easily opened and closed together with the doors.

Heretofore, it lhas been the practice to in-v clude provisions for moving the curtains With the doors mainly in the more expensive types of automobiles. This has been the case because the devices which have been used for this purpose havel been quite expensive due kto their complexities of construction. Also some of these deviceshave been inherent structural features ofthe doors themselves, thus necessitating increased cost of manufacture of the doors aswell as increasing the amount of labor necessary to obtain a completed door structure. All of this hasprecluded the general' use of such ldevices in the cheaperv types of cars.

In this latter type of car the curtainsy have of necessity been fastened into place on the doors and body-of the automobile by the use of a plurality of snap 'fasteners or similar devices. When the door of the'car is to be opened, it is first necessary to unfasten the ucurtains therefrom. This is decidedly incon vement and moreover, itV eventually results in prematurely torn or otherwise injured curtains.

means for supporting the sto-rm curtains upon the door whichis at once effective as it is exceedingly simple in construction and extremely cheap. It isa furtherv object of my invention to provide a curtain rod support which may be readily applied to a door Without in any manner affecting the construction of the door itself.

My invention consists in the novel construction, combinations and devices to be hereinafter described and claimed for carrying out the above stated objects and other such obj ects as will appear from the following descrip* tion of a preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in'which Fig. l is an inside View of a portion of the automobile body, showing my support attached to the door thereof;

It is an object of my invention `to provide a` Fig. 2 is an enlarged view showing the rod supported in the improved socket; and Y Fig. 3 is a view on the line 3 3 of Fig;2. In general, my invention contemplates the use of a single metal stamping which may be welded or otherwise suitably secured to the inside of the automobile door, this metal stamping being provided-With integral means for the reception of the curtain rodV The bodies of these stampings are pressed out of steel sheetings, it having` been previously determined just what outline is necessary in order to obtain the desired eifects. In this particular instance, I prefer to give an outline to the metal stamping such as will provide laterally extending vportions or tabs around the periphery of the main body portion thereof. Openings are provided in these laterally extending portions preferably by punching holes therethrough. These apertured tab portions are disposed at opposite sides of the main body of the metal stamping and are bent upwardly out of the planeo-f the main body portion and at right angles thereto so that the i openings will be brought into alignment with each other. By this arrangement it becomes possible to insert the curtain rod through the openingsso that it is effectually positioned against lateral displacement and so as to prevent any possibility of its remaining in any but its proper position due to the provision of the supportng means attwo points in very tical alignment.

`In addition to the provision of aligned openings through which the curtain rod eX- tends, I provide a means at the lowerend of the support for preventing a too great downward movement of the rod therein. In my preferred form of the invention, this means consists in rectangularly shaping the aper'- ture or opening in the lower portion of the support so as to neatly receive the lowerV end of the rod which is reduced in cross-section and which is also of rectangular cross section. In addition to limiting the downward movement of the rod, such a construction also prevents any rotation thereof in the support.

In the drawings, I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention and in the following description thereof similar' reference characters are used to designate similar parts throughout the several views. My socket or support is generally indicated by 10 and comprises a stamping having a Hat main body portion 11 and laterally extending portions 12, 13, 14 and 15 at each side thereof. The portions 12 and 13 are bent upwardly from the plane of the body 11 and substantially at right angles thereto and are provided at their forward ends with cupped apertures or openings 16 and 17, respectively, the latter aperture bein(lr provided with a flared portion or lip 21. 'liese openings are in vertical alignment with each other, the upper aperture 16 being of a size suiiicient to freely permit passage therethrough of the curtain rod 18. The lower aperture 17 is so designed'as to limit the downward movement andto prevent an rotation of the rod in its socket. As is clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the opening17 is rectangularly shaped to neatly receive the complementally siaped lower end 19of reduced cross-section of the curtain rod 18. By so designing the lower end of the rod a shoulder 20 is provided which is adapted to rest upon the inner surface of the lip 21 of the lower aperture 17, this being clearly shown in Fig. 3. This lip in addition to acting as a support for the shoulder 20 of the curtain rod` also acts as a Guiding means for seatinrr the lower end of the rod within the cupped aperture 17.

Approximately in the center of the body ortion 11 and in alignment with the openings 16 and 17 is provided a projection or priotuberance 22 which extends to just within the path of the rod as the latter is inserted into the socket. The purpose of this projection 22 is clearly apparent from Fig. 3, it being to force the rod 18 outwardly against the forward edges of the holes 16 and 17 so as to take up any play which might exist between the rod and its supporting struct-ure, the projection also acting as a guide for` the rodas it is inserted within the support.

The above described socket or supporting means is preferably secured to the inside4 of the automobile door preferably by welding, preferably b spot welds indicated as at 25, though it is obvious that other securing means maybe used Without in any manner affecting the spirit of my invention. Thus, in the case of composite body structures where there is no metal to which the support may be welded. holes may be provided in the body` portion 11 through which screws may pass into the wood or other structure. For purposes of welding the support to the automobile body, the laterally extending portion 14 may be angularly disposed with respect to the main body portion so that a lap weld may be made between its outer edge 23 andthe side 24 of the 'door body, while the main body 11 is spot welded to the supporting inner panel.

It will be seen from the hereinabove description of a preferred form of my invention that I have provided a support for a certain rod which is extremely simple and inexpensive to manufacture requiring only the ordiproduce the completed article. Further, the support may be easily and quickly applied to the body of the automobile without affecting the latters structure. Lastly asupport` has been devised which is highly efiicient in operation and which is not likely to be put out of commission due to dirt and other foreign substances clogging the socket, as so often happens with other more complex types ,of curtain rod supports, as, for example, the tubular type.

I am aware that the embodiment which I have shown and describedanay be variedconsiderably without departing from the spirit of my invention and therefore I desireto claim my invention broadly as indicated by, the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a curtain rod socket member, a substantially Hat body portion adapted to be welded to the inner side of an automobile door panel, an upper portion havingan aperture therein for passage of the curtain rod therethrough, a lower portion having an irregularly s iaped seat therein for reception of the bottom end of the curtain rod, and a side portionqadapted to be welded to the inner side of the end panel of the door, all of said portions being integrally united. 2. As an article of manufacture, a blank of pressed steel comprisingr a polygonal body portion, laterally extending portions on three margins of said body portion, two of said portions havinfr apertures punched therethrough, one of said apertures being of non-circular periphery, and` a projection formed substantially in the center of the body portion and extending toward` a line joining the apertures.

3. A curtain rod socket comprising a substantially flat sheet metal main body having its upper and lower ends inturned and provided with downwardly cupped apertures, the lower ofwhich is of less area than the upper.

4. A curtain rod socket stamping comprising a substantially flat sheet metal main body having its lower and upper ends inturned to lie in substantially parallel planes, the upper of which is provided with a circular opening and the lower of which is provided with a polygonal opening of less area.

5. A support for curtain rods comprising a base member, upper and lower projections from said base vertically spaced apart and provided with aligned rod` receiving apertures which are adapted to receivesaid rods by insertion axially of` said apertures and positively retaining the same' against lateral 7e nary stamping and punching operations to displacement and in a position free from thev having its ends turned o-Ver in the same direcbody of said base to ether with a positive tion and provided with aligned apertures to 10 proj eetion from the ghase intermediate the engage a curtain rod and a projection in said spaced apertures adapted to engage the rod stamping to bind the Curtain rod in said 5 and bind it in the apertures to prevent ratapertures and prevent rattle. y y tle. In testimony whereof I hereunto aX my 6. A one-piece curtain rod socket comprissignature.

ing a substantially flat sheet metal stamping JOSEPH LEDWINKA. 

